Dodgers News: Friedman Knew There Was a 'Real Chance' of Tommy John for Buehler

Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told reporters the Dodgers knew there was a "real chance" Walker Buehler was headed for a second Tommy John surgery.

When the Dodgers announced earlier this month that Walker Buehler's season was over, we knew he would be having surgery on his elbow on August 23. What we didn't know — because even the surgeon didn't know — was exactly what that surgery would look like.

We found out on Tuesday, when Buehler himself broke the news on Instagram that it was the worst-case scenario: his second Tommy John surgery.

Buehler, who had Tommy John shortly after the Dodgers drafted him in 2015, said in his Instagram post, "Tommy John Round 2 – let’s roll. See ya when I see ya."

On Tuesday afternoon, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman sat down in the Dodgers dugout to talk to the media about Buehler's operation, which was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who also performed Buehler's previous TJ.

According to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Friedman said they knew going in that Tommy John was a definite possibility.

“We knew that there was a real chance of that,” Friedman said. “It’s a tough blow but from all the sounds of it, it went as well as could possibly be expected. Talking to Dr. ElAttrache earlier, he felt really confident about it. Felt like he went in and got it back in good order.

“But there’s no sugarcoating it. It is a tough blow.”

Buehler's original MRI when he was injured in June showed a flexor tendon strain, and Dr. ElAttrache also repaired that injury as part of the yesterday's surgery. When Buehler's rehab and recovery didn't go as well as they had hoped, they did another MRI, this time with contrast, to try to check on the health of his ulnar collateral ligament.

As is often the case with a pitcher who has had previous Tommy John surgery, Buehler had scar tissue built up around the UCL, which made it impossible to see from the MRI how his UCL was looking. So the purpose of yesterday's surgery was to open up Buehler's elbow so Dr. ElAttrache could actually see what damage there was and get it repaired.

The possibly of a torn UCL requiring Tommy John surgery was always on the table. On Tuesday, we got the worst-case news.